INDIA: A minister reported on Sunday that 416 persons had been arrested in the most recent police sweep, which led to nearly 5,000 arrests in the northeastern region of India as part of a crackdown on illicit child marriages.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam state, declared in a statement, “We will continue to take bold steps to end this social evil,”
He continued, claiming that raids had been conducted overnight and that those detained will appear in court on Sunday. “Assam continues its fight against child marriage,” he said.
According to the UN, there are over 220 million child brides in India, although this century has seen a sharp decline in the number of child weddings.
In previous abolition campaigns that started in February 2023, Assam state had already detained thousands of people.
